Above: A photo of Doyle at WIOX 91.3FM's studio in 2011. Photo by Simona David, via the WIOX Facebook page.
Terry Doyle, a Catskills reporter and radio show host who was a widely-known fixture of the local music community, died last week.
Doyle died unexpectedly of complications from a heart attack on Wednesday, February 6 at his parents' house in Middleburgh. He was 46 years old.
Doyle, who seemed destined for broadcasting with a smooth, low-pitched voice and an encyclopedic memory for local music and people, began his radio career in the early 1990s. Doyle started out in local radio at a time when commercial stations in the Catskills could support local news reporters and larger staffs. A decade later, he moved to volunteer community radio, as the industry consolidated and local stations were bought by ever-more-distant corporate owners who pared down staffing and local content.
"Ownership changes several years ago drove Terry from commercial radio, but he still had a passion for broadcasting and more importantly, regional music," Gary Wickham, a radio colleague of Doyle's who is now the general manager of WUOW 88.5 in Oneonta, wrote in a note on WUOW's Facebook page.
In 2005, after the station he was working for had changed hands twice, Doyle left commercial radio, took a job at a local pharmaceutical factory and set out to forge a new way to deliver community radio on his own. His one-man mission to catalogue, broadcast and promote local music spawned several original radio shows, and made Doyle a vital contributor to the region's burgeoning nonprofit radio scene.
Despite having no station to broadcast on, Doyle created a radio show featuring music and interviews with local musicians called the “Imprint” program. In partnership with the Pine Hill Community Center in Pine Hill, he founded the popular “Cabaradio,” a seasonal vaudeville revue with a live audience. Both the "Imprint" program and Cabaradio were broadcast on an internet radio channel called “Catskill Community Radio.”
Above: A few of Doyle's locally-legendary cookies. Photo via Trespass Music.
For "Imprint," Doyle did all the recording and editing himself, sometimes driving for hours to see an artist and tape a show -- and usually bringing a box of his trademark snickerdoodle cookies in tow.
In 2006, Doyle convinced Wickham to broadcast “Imprint” on SUNY Oneonta's public radio station, WUOW 88.5 FM. Community radio stations in Ithaca, Geneva and Hudson followed suit, giving Doyle a statewide audience. He worked hard for the exposure: Each week, instead of sending an .mp3 file to the stations that aired the “Imprint” program, Doyle would hand-deliver a CD.
“He would record this show, and he would put it on a CD, and he would drive it to Oneonta and drive it to Hudson,” Wickham said.
In 2010, when WIOX 91.3 FM launched in the town of Roxbury as a community radio station, Doyle quickly became the station's most dedicated volunteer. He moved to an apartment near the station and developed a new show, “Crackle,” to air alongside the “Imprint” program. Every week, he spent about nine hours on the air at WIOX, according to a tribute by Michelle Fortier at the Trespass Music website. When flooding from Tropical Storm Irene hit the area, Doyle sprang into action as a news reporter, broadcasting live flood news from WIOX and talking about the floods on New York City media.
Below: Terry Doyle at the grand opening of WIOX 91.3 FM in Roxbury in August 2010. Photo by Julia Reischel.
Last December, WIOX created a new annual award. Not only did they give it to Doyle, they named it after him: The “Doylie,” a doily framed like a gold record, to be awarded to a WIOX staffer who goes above and beyond the call of duty. Joe Piasek, the station's executive producer, cited Doyle for his service to the station: “running three miles in the rain from his home to the station to assist in crisis coverage, tracking down elusive newsmakers, performing marathon stand-by duty whenever needed, parading an incredible coterie of live performers to the station from virtually everywhere."
“He was always there”
Doyle was born in Flushing, New York, and grew up Long Island and then in the town of Middleburgh in Schoharie County. After graduating from California State University at Northridge with a degree in broadcast radio, he worked at stations in California and then returned to New York to work at a station in the town of Cobleskill. In the early 1990s, he was hired as a DJ and reporter by the Delaware County Broadcasting Corporation, based in Delhi and Walton.
Amos Finch, who owned the DCBC from 1974 to 2000, remembers Doyle as “a very high-energy person” who was “very alert to things that could pop up that might be a lead to a news story.”
“I'm crushed that he died,” Finch said. “He really poured himself into his work. If Terry had a shift, you knew he was going to be there. He might have a cold or a sore throat or whatever, but he was always there.”
When Doyle hosted a morning show in Delhi for DCBC, his stint on the air was only the beginning of his daily routine, Finch said.
“He hosted the show from 6am to 9am, and then at 9am, everybody in the Delhi Diner got the lowdown from Terry,” Finch said. “I’m sure half of the businesses up and down the main street probably saw him every week for a visit.”
The Delaware County Broadcasting Corporation kept a studio on Bear Spring Mountain, and Gary Wickham, the general manager of WUOW 88.5 in Oneonta, wrote in a Facebook tribute that Doyle would often spend the night in the studio in order to be there at sign-on.
“There was usually a sleeping bag and change of clothes anywhere he worked,” Wickham wrote.
Robert Cairns, the editor of the Walton Reporter, also worked with Doyle at DCBC in the mid-1990s.
“Terry is being remembered as a promoter of local music, but people forget that he spent a lot of time covering local news,” Cairns said. “His knowledge of local issues and personalities was as deep as anyone's. Delaware County has lost a tremendous resource.”
In 2000, DCBC was sold to the BanJo Communications Group of Oneonta. In 2004, BanJo itself was sold to a company called Double O Radio that operated radio stations in multiple states. Its upstate radio stations were operated as the Central New York Radio Group. Today, DCBC's former stations are run by the Townsquare Media Group, a national network based in Connecticut. Doyle left the company in 2005 to work at Covidien's pharmaceutical plant in the town of Hobart.
Working nights at Covidien allowed Doyle to spend his days attending local events, recording interviews, and hosting shows at WIOX. His presence was ubiquitous at community events throughout the Catskills and beyond, and Doyle often attended shows on opposite sides of the region in a single evening.
“Terry was everywhere at once,” Doyle's friend, musician John Scarpulla, told Trespassmusic.org this week. “He would see a show in Binghamton at 8 and be at my show by 10 in the middle of a snow storm. It became commonplace to look up from the microphone on any given night and see Terry smiling, listening, thinking, feeling. He had the ability to make you appreciate your own music.”
Doyle's passion for community radio was more important to him than getting credit – or getting paid.
“I think it’s important to note that Terry did this whole thing that he did – distributing the 'Imprint' program, and everything else he did – out of love for music and broadcasting,” Wickham said. “He never made a dime out of any of this. He always paid his own way. He went to every blues show, he went to every concert. He never asked for a complimentary ticket. He never asked for anything.”
Doyle's brother-in-law, Jim Buzon, told the Watershed Post that Doyle's family hopes to donate his enormous collection of local music to found a music library at WIOX. The family has asked that donations be made in Doyle's memory to WIOX to support local musicians.
There are also plans afoot for two memorial concerts for Doyle. WIOX is planning a memorial concert on Saturday, April 27. A group of Doyle's musician friends, led by David Krajicek of the Blues Maneuver Band, is planning a fundraising party to establish an endowed scholarship for a local high school student in Doyle's name on Sunday, May 26, at the Andes Hotel.
"No one supported regional musicians more enthusiastically than Terry," said Krajicek. "This is a small way of honoring all that he did on our behalf."
Public calling hours for Doyle will be on Tuesday, February 12, 4pm - 8pm at the Miller Funeral Home in Roxbury (53905 State Highway 30, Roxbury, NY 12474). Funeral services will be held Wednesday, February 13 at 2 pm at St. Johns Episcopal Church (134 ½ Main Street, Delhi, NY 13753).
Correction 2/12/13: An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that Amos Finch founded the Delaware County Broadcasting Company. In fact, Finch and a partner, Myra Austin Youmans, purchased the DCBC in 1974. The article also erroneously stated that DCBC as "changed hands three times" between 2000 and 2005. In fact, DCBC changed hands twice between 2000 and 2005. It was sold to BanJo Communications Group in 2000, and then to the Double O Radio in 2004. Finally, BanJo Communications Group was based in Oneonta, not Norwich.
More coverage of Doyle's death:
Terry Doyle Was Just Hitting His Stride -- Walton Reporter
Oneonta-area radio host Terry Doyle dies -- CNYRadio.com
WGXC 90.7-FM mourns the passing of Terry Doyle -- WGXC Newsroom
Terry Doyle ~ An Angel Above and Beyond -- Trespass Music
Tribute from Gary Wickham -- WUOW Oneonta 88.5FM's Facebook page
Obituary -- Schenectady Daily Gazette
Obituary -- Oneonta Daily Star
Below: A tribute video to Terry Doyle by Jessica Vecchione.
